Beacon transmissions are used for a wide range of applications. WiFi, Bluetooth and other types of beacons are becoming common place. A device detecting a beacon signal may use information included in a received beacon signal and/or information about the signal strength of a received beacon signal to obtain additional information or to provide information to another device which can be used for a variety of purposes.
Stores and/or other information providers may install access points to transmit beacon signals to communicate information. They also support devices and/or system components which can provide information relating to a beacon signal, e.g., information indicating a mapping of a value included in a beacon signal to information. Thus, to support the use of beacon signals, transmitters and information providing elements are normally included in a network which facilitate use of beacon signals by devices, e.g., mobile wireless terminals of end users, which may detect one or more transmitted beacon signals.
In some systems a network device or other device, operated by the store or another entity may receive a report indicating receipt of a beacon signal by a device and respond to the device with information that may be useful to the device that reported the receipt of the beacon signal. The network or other device in such a case expects to receive a message indicating that a particular beacon signal was received and, optionally, the strength of the received beacon signal. Thus such devices may include what can be thought of as a beacon interface which receives beacon related information and responds, at least in some cases, with information to supplied to the device reporting receipt of a beacon signal.
It would be desirable if wireless terminal could be able to take advantage of devices, modules or other components which are intended to provide information in regard to received beacon signals even when beacon signals are not in fact received and/or the device seeking information lacks the ability such as a wireless receiver, capable of receiving a transmitted beacon signal. It would also be desirable if an entity seeking to communicate information could take advantage of devices, modules or components intended to supply information in response to an indication that a beacon signal was received, without having to deploy an actual beacon transmitter in at least some cases.
In view of the above discussion, it should be appreciated that there is a need for methods and/or apparatus which allow devices to communicate or receive information as if a beacon signal were transmitted and/or received even when a beacon signal is not actually transmitted or received.